Team seeks Lapang nod for mining ~ About Meghalaya

- Govt keen, says NGO

Lapang

Shillong, Aug. 8 : A delegation of a pro-mining group met Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang today and urged him to give a no-objection certificate to uranium mining in West Khasi Hills.

After the meeting, Wonder Myrthong, the president of Langrin Warsan Lyngdoh Socio and Economic Development Organisation, told reporters that the government was keen to give a green signal to the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) to start mining.

“The chief minister told us that the government was keen to exempt the UCIL from the purview of the Land Transfer Act to purchase land to carry out uranium mining,” Myrthong said.

According to the current Land Transfer Act, companies and individuals from outside the state are barred from purchasing land in Meghalaya.

Myrthong claimed the chief minister had sought two weeks’ time to examine the issue of exempting the UCIL from the purview of the act.

Allaying fears regarding harmful radiation, Myrthong said as there was a shortage of power, nuclear energy could be used to produce electricity.

In May last year, an anti-mining group from Langrin, the Langrin Youth Welfare Association, met Meghalaya Governor R.S. Mooshahary to stop uranium mining in West Khasi Hills.

The anti-uranium mining group had told the governor that the UCIL was trying to mislead the people through inducements to carry out uranium mining in the state.

The association said the corporation continued to mislead the people of West Khasi Hills through various inducements, including many development packages.

The Centre, through the UCIL, had offered a Rs 10,000-crore development package, besides job opportunities, to the locals.

The corporation also offered packages for the construction of roads, hospitals, and drinking water facilities.

The president of the youth association, B.S. Lyngdoh, said the Centre, instead of investing in the “destructive nuclear energy” should focus on harnessing hydel power in West Khasi Hills and particularly take up the pending Kynshi power project.